Railway-signal



S. 8. WHITEHEAD & G. A. CASTLE.

RAILWAY SIGNAL.

APPLICATEON FILED MAY 1. 19.12.

Wiimaoow S. B. WHITEHEAD & G. A. CASTLE.

RAILWAY SIGNAL.

APPLICATION FILED MAY \912 www V PatentedAug. 1,1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

RAILWAY-SIGNAL.

Imam- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 1, 19113.

Application filed my 1,1912. Serial No. sea res.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, STEPHEN B. WHITE- HEAD and Gnonen A. CASTLE, citizens of United States, residing at Inwood, in the county of Lyon, State of Iowa, have in vented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-Signals; and we do here-,

by declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to new and useful. improvements in railway signals.

in object of this invention is the provision of a signaling device such as described which is actuated by a train to give notification of the approach thereof by the ringing of a bell.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a signal which employs the use of a gong which is actuated through the medium of a plurality of trip members and a cable, the latter being so arranged as never to become slack.

A. further object of this invention is to improve and simplify devices of this char acter, rendering them comparatively simple and inexpensive to manufacture, reliable and eflicient in use and readily operated.

With the above and other objects in view, this invention resides in the novel features of construction, formations, combinations and arrangements of parts to be hereinafter more fully described, claimed and illus trated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a perspective view of our in vention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof, illustrating the post and gong. Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken through one of the box-like housings mounted on one of the ties of the track-way. Fig. at is a longitudinal sectional view showing the tripmenr her in one positiomand Fig. 5 is a similar view shoWing-the'trip member in its other position.

Referring to the accompanying drawings by similar characters of referencethroughout the several views, the numeral 10 designates generally a portion of a railway track which comprises the usual rails 11 mounted on the ties 12. A supporting post 13 is mounted adjacent the track at the crossing 1d and has extending from its upper terminal asupporting rod 15 which carries a gong or bell 16 of any preferred form. A. pair of brackets 17 are secured to the post 13 in superimposed relation relative to each other and terminate in registering eyes 18 in which is slidably located an operating rod 19 which extends in parallel spaced relation to the post 13 and carries at one end a clapper 20 for engagement with the gong 16. The opposite end is provided with an eye 21 for attachment to the flexible operating member 22. A spring 23 surrounds the rod 19 and is connected at its lower end with one of the eyes 18 while the upper end of the spring is connected to the .nut or bur 19 threaded on the upper end of the rod 19 whereby the tension of the spring may be adjusted to suit the stroke and other conditions. The spring serves to yieldingly force the clapper 20 into engagement with the gong 16. A plurality of housings or boxes 24.- formed from any desired material are mounted at convenient points upon the ties in equi-spaced relation relative to each other.

Each of the housings 24 consists of a boxlike body 25 which comprises a bottom 26 which is secured to the ties as indicated by the numeral 27 and side members 28 formed at their inner sides adjacent their upper edges with longitudinal slots 29 for the reception of a sliding top plate 30. End members 31 are provided for the housings or boxes 25 and have secured to their inner sides springs 32 which are attached to the under face of the plates 30 in order to permit a limited movement of the said plate whereby all shock will be absorbed. Arranged within the housing and extending transversely thereof is a pivot'rod 33 to which is connected the operating arm 34C. The upper portion of this arm projects through the slot 36 formed longitudinally of the plate 30, while the lower portion of the arm 34, which is incased within the housing, is formed to constitute a bifurcated or fork-like tripping member 35, which spans or straddles the portion of the cable or flexible member 22 which extends through the housing 24:. The ends of the housings 2 1 are formed with alining apertures 37 through which the flexible member 22 extends after passing over the guide pulleys 38. The free end of the flexible member 22 is attached to a spring 39 which connects with one of the ties and prevents any slack in the said flexible member. A plurality of stops 40 are secured to the said flexible member and are disposed within the housings 2 L in engagement with the rear edges of the forked portions ofth'e operating arms 34: which are normally held in contact therewith by coiled springs 41 which also serve toretainthe arms 34: in a substantially vertical position;

The operation of the device is as follows: Upon the approach of a train the pilot of the locomotive which is conventionally illustrated in: dotted lines in Fig. l'of the drawings and is indicated by the numeral as will engage each of the arms 3 k in succession forcing'them forwardly and swinging them upon'ttheir pivot point so that the forked extremities ofa'trip' member 35 will I move the stops 40 rearwardly, retracting the spring 23. As the'pilot'releases each of the trip members the" clapper 20 will be forced by the expansion of the spring 23 against the gong sounding the gong: a number of times equal to the number'of stops upon the flexible member-22." Itshould be noted that the tension of the spring 23 is considerably greater than'that of the spring 39 which insures the operation of the rod 19.

It should be understood in this connection that various minorchanges in the details of construction can be' resorted to within'the scope of the appended claim" without departing'from or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

From the foregoing disclosures taken in connection with the accompanying draw- Gopies of this patent maybe obtained for five cents each, by addressing the ings, it will bemanifest that a device of the nature described is provided which will fulfil all of the necessary requirements of such a device.

Having thus fully described this invention what we claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent, is

The combination with a signaling device arranged adjacent a trackway, of a casing having a normally closed cover slidably associated therewith, a cable running through the casing, and connected at one end to the signaling device, an operating arm pivoted to the casing and extended through the cover, means carried by the cable operable by the arm to move the cable in one direction when said arm is rocked in another direction, means yieldably holding the arm in engagement with the cable operating means, coil springs connected at'each end of the easing and to the cover, said springs serving to positively return the cover to its closed position after being moved by the rocking of the arm and to absorb the shock incident thereto, and means connecting the other end of the cable and trackway to prevent slack in the cable.

In testimony whereof, we aflix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

STEPHEN B. WVHITEHEAD. GEORGE A. CASTLE. Witnesses:

G. M. ANDERSON, E. A. WELSH.

Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, I). G. 

